Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Huckabee FTW! (or not?)

By Brendan Loy

As results from the only two states in the country that don't use the Multistate Bar Exam continue to trickle in...

With 37% of the precincts reporting in Washington state, Huckabee has the lead!!! It's Huck 26.9%, McCain 23.2%, Paul 20.6%, Romney 18.3%, Uncommitted 10.9%. (Seriously, the high level of support for Mitt, who dropped out two days ago, is somewhat bizarre, no?)

Huckabee's also up in Louisiana, 48% to 38% with 40 percent reporting. Can you say "Huck-a-sweep"?

The New York Times's Washington and Louisiana results pages are your best bets for the latest results.

UPDATE: CNN's John King points out that Louisiana's primary is a "beauty contest" unless somebody gets a majority, and based on their projections, "we are certain that no candidate will pass 50%." So even if Huckabee wins, he gets bragging rights, but little else.

UPDATE, 11:30 PM: With 78% reporting in Washington, McCain has taken a slim lead, 25.7% to 24.0%. Ron Paul is within striking distance, too, at 21.4%. Romney's at 16.2%, and Uncommitted is a strong 12.7%. What a weird result.

Meanwhile, Huck's lead in Louisiana has narrowed to 44.6% to 41.0%, with 82% reporting. And Orleans Parish, which McCain is winning overwhelmingly (60-22), is only half in. Also, East Baton Rouge Parish, where McCain leads 48-31 (and which has a lot more GOP votes than Orleans), is only 19% in. If those trends hold, methinks McCain may pull this one out.

UPDATE, 12:18 AM: 97% reporting now in Louisiana, and Huckabee is still barely ahead, 43.4% to 41.9%. More to the point, he's up by 2,276 votes. Orleans is 90% in, and East Baton Rouge 83% in. This is going to be very close -- and, of course, utterly meaningless.

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

Barack Obama wins Louisiana Democratic caucuses, CNN projects

Results

By Brendan Loy

The Seattle Times has 'em all on one page, and they seem to be up-to-date.

As noted below, Huckabee has won Kansas, and Obama has won Nebraska and Washington -- by very wide margins, in all three cases. The big question marks now are Louisiana (both parties) and Washington on the GOP side.

UPDATE, 10:08 PM: CNN calls Louisiana for Obama.

Actually, to be more precise, Wolf Blitzer said that "In the state of Louisiana, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, will carry Louisiana." Why, Wolf Blitzer, why, do you always, always repeat yourself, yourself, when you, you, are talking, Wolf Blitzer?

Also, Obama apparently won the Virgin Islands. So, he's 4-for-4 tonight. Nice.

Now... what about the GOP? Will the Huck-a-sweep happen??

Saturday night's all right for voting

By Brendan Loy

Mark Halperin has the rundown of this weekend's primaries and caucuses. Today's first results could come in shortly after 5:00 PM EST, from Kansas (GOP only) and Washington (both parties). Later, the mighty Virgin Islands (Dem only), Nebraska (Dem only) and Louisiana (both) will report in. And tomorrow, the Dems vote in Maine.

Predictions? I'm going to say, in an effort to stem the tide of my own irrational exuberance, that Hillary pulls a narrow upset in Washington (though I hope I'm wrong), Obama wins big elsewhere, and Huck takes Kansas but loses Louisiana by a hair and is blown out in Washington, notwithstanding my previous ruminations to the contrary. :)

On an unrelated note, it's Notre Dame 63, Marquette 52 almost midway through the second half. The Irish look impressive.

UPDATE: Notre Dame wins, 86-83, surviving a late Marquette run thanks to clutch free-throw shooting. That'll help them in March, if they keep it up.

UPDATE 2: Huckabee romps McCain in Kansas, 66% to 22% (with 11% for Ron Paul). Wow! (That's with 76% of the precincts reporting.) Maybe I was too Huck-a-bearish in my predictions...

UPDATE, 8:26 PM: With 35 percent of the precincts reporting in Washington state, it's 67% to 32% Obama. (Official results here.) Hooray for yet another faulty Brendan Loy prediction! :) Nothing yet on the GOP side.

So far, indications are good for Obama in Nebraska, too.

UPDATE, 8:32 PM: CNN is now projecting that Obama will win Nebraska. And it's another huge win: 69% to 31% with 73 percent reporting.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, the Obama campaign is complaining of voter irregularities.

UPDATE, 9:25 PM: With 17% of the Washington GOP precincts reporting, it's McCain 27%, Huckabee 26%, Paul 21%, Romney 17%, Uncommitted 9%. Did they miss the memo that Romney dropped out? And that Paul is nuts? ;)

Meanwhile, the Louisiana results are just beginning to trickle in. ABC News "does not have enough information to project the winner of the Louisiana Democratic primary, but Obama is leading New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, based on exit poll estimates. There is not enough information to project whether Arizona Sen. John McCain or former Gov. Mike Huckabee will win in Louisiana on the Republican side."

P.S. Commenter "CD" gives a first-hand report on the Washington Democratic caucuses. She also reported on last night's Obama rally.